


The Ring

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Community: 1-million-words, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29521566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: It’s supposed to be a happy time, but Callen knows something is bothering Nell
Relationships: G Callen/Nell Jones
Kudos: 14
Collections: 1 Million Words' Weekend Challenge





	The Ring

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the same ‘verse as “The Hoodie” And “The Shirt” 
> 
> For the one million words valentines weekend challenge, my prompt was “the one real regret”

“Okay, out with it. What’s up?” 

Callen has made sure that the Squid and Dagger is all locked up, bar wiped down and everything put away before he goes over to Nell - he figures that’s the least he can do since Deeks was kind enough to let the bar be the venue for their impromptu engagement party. He’d like to be on his way upstairs to his apartment to continue the celebration with his new fiancée but he knows there’s something he has to deal with first. 

“I don’t know what you mean.” Nell tilts her head and squints as if deep in thought but he’s not buying it. He’s not even sure if she really expects him to.

“Nell....” He draws her name out. “How long have we been together?” 

She didn’t even have to think. “Almost seven years.” 

“That’s right.” He hadn’t had to think either. Almost seven years since she’d gone toe to toe with a serial killer in the boat shed, since he’d burst through the door with Sam and caught her before she landed out cold on the floor. “Did I get him?” had been her first words when she’d opened her eyes and, in hindsight, he knows that he fell right then and there, or at least that’s when his feelings couldn’t be denied any longer. Later that night, he’d been across the table from a beautiful woman that Sam and Michelle had set him up with when he’d realised he’d much rather be somewhere else; he’d made his excuses and gone to Nell’s house and the rest had been history. 

He doesn’t regret a thing. 

“Almost seven years,” he continues. “Of good times and bad times and everything in between. So I think I know when you’re upset.” He comes up to her, slips his arms around her waist, leaning back so he can look down at her. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” 

“I know.” She sighs as she rests her palms on his chest. That sigh tells him loud and clear that there is something and she’s not about to tell him what it is. For all he can be reticent to talk about his feelings, Nell’s sometimes not that far behind him, particularly if she thinks it’s something he might not want to hear. “It’s nothing... I’m just being silly.” 

He frowns at that. “Okay, now you have to tell me what’s bothering you.” He realises her eyes are on the ring and a suspicion occurs to him. “You don’t like the ring, is that it? Because we can exchange it.” She’s going to be wearing it for the rest of her life, he wants her to like it. 

But she’s shaking her head. “No, nothing like that. I love it, I do.” She presses her lips together then and he feels her trembling in his arms. “I am happy, G, I am. It’s just... I really wish my mom was here.” 

His mouth drops open slightly in sudden understanding and he nods. Which is her cue to start talking quickly. “And I know, I mean, I’m so lucky that she met you, and she really liked you, I know she did, but I just wish she could see this, you know? She would have been so happy...”

Tears are standing in her eyes now and he ticks one finger under her chin, tilts her head up so she can see him. stops her talking with one finger tucked under her chin and Her name is quiet on his lips. “Nell.” She stops talking. “She knew.” 

For a second, she just stares at him, like the words don’t compute, like she can’t understand what he’s saying. Then she blinks, then frowns, like she still can’t make them make sense. “What?” 

“It was one of the weekends I came up to San Francisco. I went straight to the hospital because I knew you were there... and when I got there, I found you asleep in the chair beside your mom’s bed. I was going to wake you but she ordered me not to, said you were exhausted... and then she said that we needed to have a talk about my intentions towards you.” Nell’s jaw drops a little but he can tell she knows he’s telling the truth. 

“What she didn’t know,” he continues, “was that I already had the ring picked out, it just needed to be sized. I had a picture of it on my phone, on a burner email account that you didn’t know anything about...” She laughs softly at that, sheer amazement at the hoops he’d jumped through to cover his tracks, each one of them necessary thanks to her detective skills. “She thought it was beautiful... and she said you were going to love it.” His fingers played with the ring as he spoke, drawing both of their eyes to it. 

“You said...” Nell’s voice falters. “I remember a night like that, waking up in the room... you said she was telling you embarrassing kid stories.”

“Oh, she did that too. Your mom was quite the multi-tasker.” He gives her a significant look. “That apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” 

She laughs softly again. “I can’t believe you’ve been planning this all this time...” 

Sure, the ring has been burning a hole in his pocket for a long time, but he’d had his reasons for waiting. “I knew you were having a hard time... between work, and your mom... I didn’t want it to be like it was one more decision you had to make. I wanted to do it properly. When the time was right.” 

“G... I made the decision to be with you a long time ago.” Her fingers play with one of the buttons on his shirt. “And it’s the one decision I’ve never second guessed.”

“Lucky for me.” It might sound like he’s teasing, but he means every word. “I promised your mom... that I would do whatever it took to make you happy.” Which he doesn’t seem to be succeeding with at the moment, not if the tears in her eyes are anything to go by. “And I take that very seriously.” 

“You do make me happy.” She winds her arms around his neck then, brings her lips to his and he loses track of time for a while after that. 

But later, when they’re lying tangled in the sheets and each other, the ring the only thing that either of them are wearing, he whispers into her skin, “You make me happy too.” 

Her smile in the dim light is brighter than the sparkle from the diamond and he knows she believes him.


End file.
